Dairy-Free, Paleo Friendly Cheddar Cheese (Vegan Option Noted)

While many people use this day to mark their new, fresh eating habits; while many of my friends have begun their sugar-detox, juicing or Whole30 plan, my next Whole30 won’t begin until this Friday.

“Why?” you ask?

Well, first off, Thursday is my husband’s birthday. And while Dallas & Melissa would say “don’t let that stop you!”, with my husband’s commitment to do his second Whole30 with me (this is my third!), I wouldn’t dare make him miss a piece of cake on his own birthday.

Only, this time I’m not just doing the Whole30 as I have done it in the past…this time I am following the Whole30 auto-immune protocol.

What does this mean?

Well…in addition to the standard Whole30 which is grain-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, no sugar or sweeteners of any sort for 30 days I will also be night-shade(tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, spices made from peppers), nut, seed and egg free. After 30 days I will slowly reintroduce these foods back into my diet and determine, by how my body processes this food, if I can truly tolerate these foods or not.

I have my suspicions, but time will tell.

I know that sounds like a lot to eliminate, but with the help of Practical Paleo, my friend Melissa Joulwan and her awesome book, Well Fed, and of course my own creative ingenuity, I have no doubt that this will still be a month filled with deliciousness and recipes to share!

That being said, I still have a couple of recipes to master and share before then…

This ‘cheese’ comes to you for a number of reasons.

#1, I love cheese. Before learning that I cannot tolerate dairy or casein, before my daughter was diagnosed with a severe dairy allergy; my motto was “everything is better with cheese.” And while I have learned to live and love food without, every now and then a bit of cheese is exactly what you need.

But this couldn’t just be any cheese…this had to be sliceable cheese…

And shredable cheese…

And this cheese had to melt, too! (sorry, no picture, but it does melt!)

#2, and probably the primary reason why I needed to invest time into perfecting this recipe; I was given a challenge to ‘paleocize’ a delicious looking recipe from my friend, Shirley over at Gluten-Free Easily. A challenge I gladly accepted and have been diligently working towards since.

Not only does she have some great ideas, like me, Shirley is dedicated to creating foods that her family loves in a new and better-for-them, gluten-free fashion. This often means that, while our means may be slightly different, our goals and inspiration can be one and the same.

So…before I share my ‘paleocized’ version of Shirley’s Garlic-Cheese Biscuits, I first must share the recipe for the cheese you need to make these with!

This ‘cheese’ not only meets the requirements listed above, it taste delicious, pairs well with fruits like pineapple and grapes and is pretty much everything that someone who can’t eat cheese would want their dairy-free cheese to be.

Except stretchy. Sorry, without the use of grain or corn-based ingredients like xanthan gum, I haven’t been able to get a stretch into the cheese.

Still, not to pat my own back or anything…this is, hands down, the most perfect grain-free cheese I have had since going dairy-free; even my dairy-eaters couldn’t get enough!

Using palm or coconut oil, generously grease a 1-quart glass or ceramic bowl or casserole dish, set aside.

In small sauce pan, bring gelatin and water to boil for 1 minute. Quickly move this and all other ingredients to blender and allow to blend at highest setting until mix is completely smooth.

Pour sauce into prepared bowl, refrigerate uncovered for 3 hours. Cover and chill overnight. Store in refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Slice, shred, cube, serve.

Makes approximately 2 cups.

*For a vegan version, agar agar can be used in place of the gelatin. While I have not tested measurements on this recipe, generally speaking 2 tbs gelatin = 1 ½ tbs agar agar powder or 5 tbs agar agar flakes. If you do a vegan version of this, please let me know what measurements work for you!

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Comments

Yes, I do. And cashews are a nut and tahini is made from seeds. At no point do I say that this recipe fits in to the autoimmune protocol which I will begin on Friday; I am sorry if you were under the impression that it would.

I make an almond-based mayonnaise. Soaking the almonds helps; but I find what works even better is to grind the almonds into flour and then use them that way, as flour, in this recipe. It works great for me. I do it with almost all my almond recipes. Try it. I think you’ll like it.

This looks great! I have a similar vegan cheese sauce posted on my site (my mac and cheese recipe), but you used more nutritional yeast and added some spices I didn’t use… I will definitely be trying your version, it looks sooooo good!!! BTW- I recently found your site and just love it!

I made this cheese over the weekend. I was expecting it to be hard like regular cheese. Instead it was spongy. Is this normal?? I’m new to paleo and I love cheese. Is there anything I could use to replace the smoked paprika? I felt it was too overwhelming for me. Sorry, I’m not complaining. I just didn’t really know what to expect!

🙂 Hi Natalie! Yes, most homemade dairy-free ‘cheese’ comes out spongy, totally normal but a great question all the same! While I love the smoked paprika, you might want to try regular paprika if it was too overwhelming. As with anything, playing with the spices to make it to your own desires is always a great way to perfect your dishes. <3 I hope you find many uses for this cheese. It is one of our all-time favorites. xo

For some reason this came out VERY spicy — I’m sure my husband will love it, but too spicy for me.
SO – I just remade a second batch for myself with about 1/8 the seasonings (except for full salt) and from the finger lick on the remains from the blender (pre-chilled), it tastes like a cross between: Provolone, Havarti, and Butterkase — ALL of which I used to love!!! Very excited. Can’t wait until tomorrow to truly taste it once it has it’s overnight rest… Time to make crackers! THANK YOU!!!!!

Chirtie, I am sure it can! Unfortunately I am not 100% sure on how much you should use as I have not done it this way (I find it much more affordable to buy raw cashew seeds and make it that way). I would start with the same measurements included in the recipe then adjust down based on your results.

I haven’t ate cheese it feels like in forever!(It has only been 3 months)Cheese is such a staple in my house and everybody eats cheese! I am always drooling at everybody who eats cheese. Now that I have found this recipe and have all the ingredients I am super happy. I have one question though can I just use nutritional yeast instead of nutritional yeast flakes?

You can try to make it without the nutritional yeast, maybe adjusting the herbs to meet your needs would help, but the nutritional yeast is fundamental for the “cheese” like taste so I am unsure of what exactly you’ll need to do or how it will affect the recipe. That being said, as a recipe developer, I am always open to experiment!

I just made this today with agar agar powder, I used 2 Tbsp and it was solid forming before I could get it all poured out of blender! Looks good, should be very firm for grating, I added Tumeric and a tad more Nutritional yeast.